Tucson Weekly: City Week (November 13

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Thursday 13

GENDER BENDERS. It was only last year that they became the first U.S. women's gymnastics team to grab the Olympic Gold. Now they're back--in a gender-specific way--to face their counterparts on the U.S. men's team in "The Battle of the Sexes Gymnastic Challenge."
City Week See Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Dominique Moceanu, Amanda Borden, Amy Chow and Tucson's favorite flipster, Kerri Strug, take on the boys. The guys include Chainey Umphrey, John Roethslisberger, Kip Simmons, Mihai Bagiu and John Macready.
The showdown begins at 7:30 p.m. in the TCC Arena, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets range from $12.50 to $16.50, with a $2 discount for kids and seniors, and are available at the TCC and Dillard's box offices, or by calling 791-4266.
HIGH CALLING. In Callings, author Gregg Levoy searches for authenticity, aiming his sights on the psychological, spiritual and practical processes people encounter when listening to their own calls, whether it involves work, lifestyle, relationships or performing good deeds. An adjunct journalism professor at the University of New Mexico, Levoy is currently living in Tucson, where he conducts extensive workshops on the subject.
Tonight, he gives a free lecture on Callings from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in The Book Mark, 5001 E. Speedway. For information, call 881-6350.
CITY LIMITS. Thornton Wilder called his classic play Our Town "an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily lives." But that simple description belies a complex tale set in a tiny, turn-of-the-century New Hampshire village, where the ambiance is quaint, and the human experience universal.
Now the Catalina Players present a dinner theater production of Our Town, with proceeds appropriately benefiting Our Town Family Center.
Performances are today, tomorrow and Saturday in the Catalina United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 2700 E. Speedway. Dinner is 6 p.m., with curtain at 7:30 p.m. Tickets including dinner are $17.50, $10 for performance only, available by calling 721-9640.

Friday 14

DANCE OF THE DEAD. That wonderfully funky Mexican graveside holiday lives on when Ballet Arizona presents the southern Arizona premier of Días de Muertos.
This modern fable concerns a young Mexican girl struggling to preserve her heritage when her family moves to a cold, harsh northern city. The drama comes to life, so to speak, as she leaves a trail of marigolds and lights leading to her new home, so her ancestors can follow on the Day of the Dead.
Días de Muertos is choreographed by Ballet Arizona Artistic Director Michael Uthoff, in collaboration with an ensemble of Mexican artists including librettist Berta Hiriart, composer Eugenio Toussaint, scenic designer Monica Raya and artist Rafael Cauduro.
Performances are 8 tonight and 2 p.m. tomorrow in UA Centennial Hall, located just inside the main gate entrance east of Park Avenue. Tickets range from $26 to $33 for the evening performance, $18 to $29 for the matinee, half-price for students and children ages 18 and under. Purchase them in advance at the Centennial Hall, TCC or Dillard's box offices. Call 621-3341 for reservations and information.
LOVE UNBOUND. He's a high-flying lawyer with a stable of vixens securely ensconced in his little black book. That's when a young woman unexpectedly appears on the doorstep and proceeds to tear his serenity to shreds, in Ballyhoo Production's Little Black Book, starring Kristin Coleman and Gary Tarrantts.
Performances are 8 tonight and tomorrow, and 2 p.m. Sunday, in the Clarion Hotel Cabaret Theater, 102 N. Alvernon Way. Performances continue Friday through Sunday, November 21 through 23. Tickets are $10, available at the door. For information, call 299-8101.

Saturday 15

JIG GIG. Their name is Gaelic for "old music," and it's a fitting title for the reels, jigs, hornpipes and aires landing in Tucson tonight--via the Emerald Isle--with a performance by Ceol Sean.
The duo of James Tanguay and Michael Harding tackle a traditional line-up of instruments, ranging from the penny whistle and concertina to the hornpipe and steel-string guitar, providing a sound that rings with the power of a full-blown quartet.
Show time is 8 p.m. in the PCC Center for the Arts Recital Hall, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Tickets are $8, $6 for students, available at Hear's Music, the PCC West Campus cashier, the CFA box office, and at the door. Call 206-6988 for details.
TREE SPREE. They provide priceless refuge from the summer sun, and pump oxygen into our carbon monoxide-laden atmosphere. Now our most steadfast residents get a well-deserved nod when Trees for Tucson hosts its eighth-annual Great Trees of the Old Pueblo Tour.
This year's outing will focus on various species dotting the UA campus, including the baobab, Indian cedar, fever tree and Sinaloan silk. The tour will continue into the Sam Hughes, El Encanto and other nearby neighborhoods, culminating with lunch at the Cottonwood Café.
Event begins at 9 a.m. Tickets are $25 per person, and include transportation and lunch. Space is limited, and reservations are required. For reservations, meeting location and other information, call 791-3109.
GREEN REVENGE. The gnarly world of jealously and love is darkly revived with Arizona Opera's production of Otello. Verdi's riveting masterwork recounts the legend of the heroic Moor who, blinded by the vicious lies of his adviser Iago, murders his loyal wife Desdemona in a rage of passion--discovering the deceit as she lays dying. And you thought you were having a bad day.
Tonight's performance is at 7:30 p.m., with a 2 o'clock matinee tomorrow, in the TCC Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets range from $14 to $56, and are available at Dillard's, the TCC box office, or by calling 791-4836.

Sunday 16

ART MART. The high season is nearly upon us, and in celebration the folks of Tubac are celebrating with the 15th-annual Holiday Art Market. Featuring everything from jewelry, weaving and fabric arts to furniture, porcelain and ceramics, this is among the most charming, artsy outposts around, nestled in the shadows of the beautiful Santa Rita Mountains.
Today's market hours are 1 to 4:30 p.m., continuing from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday through December 30 in the exhibit gallery of the Tubac Center of the Arts, located at 9 Plaza Road. Take I-19 south to the Tubac exit. Drive time is approximately 30 minutes. For information, call 398-2371.
BLUE BALLYHOO. Tucson's sharpest musical blades stretch across the melodic lawn--with nary a composted note in sight--when the Desert Bluegrass Association hosts another monthly jam. These outings are free and open to all comers, whether you're a serious picker or just a neophyte grinner.
Event is 4 p.m. in the Texas T-Bone Restaurant, 8981 E. Tanque Verde Road, in the Bear Canyon Shopping Center. For details, call 743-7086.
ORCHESTRAL MANEUVERS ON A LARK. The Catalina Chamber Orchestra opens another season with musical journeys through a timeless sonata, a classic symphony, and a premier penned by long-time local talent Pete Fine.
Program includes Martinu's "Sonata da Camera," featuring Adrienne Grossman on violoncello; Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7" in A Major; and "Symphony for Strings," Fine's third classical piece to be performed, which the composer calls "not bad for a self-taught composer with no UA affiliation!" We couldn't agree more.
Performance is at 3 p.m. in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. Tickets are $10, $8 for seniors, $3 for students, available at Borders Books and Music, Hear's Music and The Book Mark. Call 327-4721 for details.

Monday 17

EARLY URBANITES. How did the lives of prehistoric Southwestern people change when they moved from small communities into large pueblo villages? Did the residents of different villages cooperate or compete for limited resources? Did they choose annexation or incorporation? And what about infrastructure?
Answers to these and other timeless questions about the complex prehistory of the Homol'ovi Ruins State Park near Winslow will be the subject of a slide lecture by Dr. E. Charles Adams, titled Villages of Change: Archaeological Research Among the Homol'ovi Ruins.
Adams, curator of archeology at the Arizona State Museum and director of the Homol'ovi site, will discuss several aspects of ongoing research at the ruins. Subjects covered include unique environmental characteristics that made the area ideal for establishing villages in the A.D. 1300s, the use of driftwood by the area's inhabitants, and the importance of cotton and ritual in community economics and organization.
The free lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in UMC DuVal Auditorium, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. For details, call 881-0526.
GALACTIC GATHERING. Aptly named UFO enthusiast Joseph Apollo is firing up a series of gatherings for folks who've seen UFOs, felt their bitter abductive brunt, or simply hanker for the high-flying.
What About UF0s blasts off tonight with an "introduction and overview" by Apollo. "I want to have a different speaker for every meeting," he says, "people with different levels of knowledge about UFOs, their history, or some other relationship to them. It will be a typical X-Files kind of thing."
Truth-seeking begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Stellar Cellar, 3335 E. Grant Road. For details, call 881-7559.

Tuesday 18

SILENT SLOPES. Dr. Paul Krausman of the UA School of Renewable Natural Resources is highly involved in the study of the desert bighorn sheep. Among the most cherished of the large animals, at least in romantic terms, humankind nonetheless has driven the animals to the edge of extinction. Still, restoration efforts underway since the 1950s have lead to some resurgent herds. Unfortunately, the majestic, development-threatened animals of Pusch Ridge aren't among them.
Krausman will lecture on bighorn sheep, and particularly the dwindling Pusch Ridge population, at 7 p.m. in the Wilson Room at Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte. Admission is $2, free for park members. Call 742-6455 for information.

Wednesday 19

BROAD BRUSH STROKES. The Western Federation of Watercolor Societies boasts more than 4,500 creative members, and this year the southern Arizona branch hosts a broad swath of that talented bunch at the 22nd-annual WFWS exhibition, now on display in the Tucson Museum of Art.
From 1,130 entries submitted for consideration, 80 were chosen for this show. They represent a wide range of water-based media, from gouache and acrylic to transparent watercolors. The works were juried by Jim Kosvanec, a society member living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He calls it some of the very best work, "coming from the many energetic watercolor associations making up the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies."
Exhibit runs through January 11 at the TMA, 140 N. Main Ave. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $2, $1 for seniors and students. For information, call 624-2333.
DOME ZONE. The UA Flandrau Science Center unveils a dazzling galaxy of new light shows in its great little planetarium. Ever wondered if there is actually life beyond the cul-de-sac? Find out with The New Martians, showing at 7:30 tonight through Saturday, and at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Learn more about the creatures that traipsed this arid landscape long before ourselves with Dinosaur Chronicles, showing at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Seasonal shifts are detailed in Under Arizona Skies, showing at 3:30 p.m. Sunday; and The Family Laser Show makes a triumphant return at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Admission is $5, $4.50 for seniors, UA faculty, students and military, and $4 for children ages 3 to 12. For details, call 621-STAR.

City Week includes events selected by Calendar Editor Tim Vanderpool. Event information is accurate as of press time. The Weekly recommends calling event organizers to check for last-minute changes in location, time, price, etc. To have material considered, please send complete information at least 11 days prior to the Thursday issue date to: Tucson Weekly, P.O. Box 2429, Tucson, Arizona 85702, or fax information to 792-2096, or email us at listings@tucsonweekly.com.

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